The immense loss of life and absolute devastation caused by last week’s earthquake and tsunami is heartbreaking – and serve as the culprits in this unimaginable tragedy. The tension, felt by its citizens and far beyond the country’s borders, centers most immediately on what happens next at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility.

Reports of radioactive contamination and a potential meltdown at the complex have many Americans wondering how prepared our own government would be in the event something similar occurred here. More specifically, could the the health of residents living near a severely damaged nuclear reactor in the U.S. be ensured?

Thanks to the advanced work of the men and women who develop our nation’s military medicine, the answer is yes – but only if the government now takes the necessary steps.

In what has to be one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of military medicine, the U. S. military has developed a radiation protection drug known as Ex-Rad that can give protection through DNA repair against otherwise lethal dosages of radiation. Ex-Rad, which is administered as an injection or orally, can be given either before or after exposure. While Ex-Rad officials are continuing to work with the FDA, it has successfully cleared two clinical studies showing it is safe.

Ex-Rad’s life-saving utility isn’t limited to countering radiation exposure near a compromised nuclear facility. From potentially enabling cancer patients to withstand greater levels of radiation to protecting soldiers deployed into radioactive “hot zones,” this drug delivers critical help and hope.

During most of the last decade, U.S. military scientists at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute have worked with some of the best scientists in the American private sector to develop this radiation protection wonder drug.

Read more on: FoxNews.com
By: Van Hipp, March 16, 2011